Wanna Bet?
by HuesoftheMorning
Summary: Eli should have known that Nozomi wouldn't be satisfied with a simple pokemon battle.


"Okay, I think I'm ready." Eli looked down at the ds in her hands and nodded. The perfect team was laid out in front of her, well balanced and strong. She glanced over at Nozomi, still tapping away at the buttons with a grin on her face. "Start the battle whenever you're ready."

"Oh, I'm always ready~ Okay! Let's get started. Oh, but," Nozomi smiled at Eli, tilted her head mischievously. Eli felt a tingle down her spine. "Why don't we make this more interesting?"

"…What are you planning? I'm playing Pokémon with you, is that not interesting enough?"

"Let's make a bet!"

"No."

"Aww, Elichi. How cruel." Nozomi pouted. Eli already felt her resistance wavering under the gaze of those bright green eyes. A few more seconds passed before she sighed in defeat. There really was no beating Nozomi.

"Alright, alright, fine. What bet did you want?"

Nozomi perked up immediately, scooting closer to Eli so that their arms brushed against each other. "Loser has to do one thing the winner wants, no matter what. So if you don't want to do the bet, then you better win. But it won't be easy~"

"Nothing's easy with you."

Eli laughed as Nozomi poked her tongue out. She started the battle, shifting her ds away from Nozomi's prying eyes, and sent out her favorite Pokémon. Upbeat battle music drifted up from both ds's, and despite her earlier protests about Pokémon being a kids game, Eli felt her heart beating faster in excitement.

Her froslass floated elegantly above the battlefield, ready to face Nozomi's gengar. With a rapid tapping of buttons, the fighting began. Several shadow balls were exchanged, and the gengar went down first. Eli's eyes flicked over to Nozomi but was disappointed with her lack of reaction. Nozomi stared steadily down at her screen, choosing options with no hesitation. Eli wondered if she should be worried.

Sure enough her froslass went down with the next hit, and it was slow decline from there. One after another Nozomi took out her Pokémon with ease, only occasionally being pushed to the defensive. As her ninetales went down with one last burst of water, Eli steeled herself for her fate. Victory music sounded from Nozomi's ds, and she turned to look at Eli with a big grin.

"Good job, Elichi. That was fun."

"Yeah, yeah. What are you making me do?"

"Oh? Seems someone's eager~" Nozomi tapped a finger to her lips thoughtfully, her eyes looking straight into Eli's nervous ones. "Ah, I got it! You have to do Nicochi's routine."

"What?"

"Come on, I know you know it."

"But Nozomiii."

"Hmm?"

Eli hunched her shoulders, tried not to pout. "It's embarrassing," she muttered, ignoring Nozomi's giggles as best she could. "Do I have to?"

Nozomi's only response was a smile and a nod at her ds, still proudly displaying the victory screen. Eli sighed. She raised her hands above her head, tried to smile. It was a shaky display and she knew it, so she took a deep breath and focused. At least Nozomi wasn't recording it. She hoped.

" _Nico Nico Nii! I'll Nico-Nico-Nii your heart-_ Hey! Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Nozomi gasped out between peals of laughter. Eli huffed as she watched Nozomi's shoulders shake.

"Come on, I didn't do it that badly."

"No, no, you did great. But it really is something only Nicochi can pull off, it seems."

"We both knew that already. You just wanted to watch me make a fool of myself."

"Well, I did enjoy it greatly."

Eli shook her head in annoyance. "Round two. I'm not going to lose again." She tapped away at her ds, glaring down at the device with narrowed eyes. She couldn't let Nozomi beat her again.

"Someone's getting serious now~ I'm ready whenever you are."

The battle music resumed. Nozomi sent out her gengar again, and this time Eli was ready. Two hits from her weavile took care of it easily. The battle was more even this time, each girl frowning slightly as they concentrated. One after another, the health bars turned red and the Pokémon slid off the screen as they fainted. With barely a pixel of health left, Eli knocked out Nozomi's gardevoir and sighed in relief as the victory screen popped up. She leaned back against the wall and waited for her heart to stop pounding. She couldn't believe how worked up she was getting over a simple children's game.

"Good job, Elichi. A wonderful match."

"You don't seem very disappointed."

"Of course not. I believed in you from the start."

Eli blinked as she tried to process the words, then turned away with a faint blush. Nozomi smiled to herself at the cute display.

"So, what are you going to have me do? Be kind, Elichi~"

"Huh? Oh, right, the bet. Hmm." Eli looked around the room, hoping for an idea. She didn't have anything specific she wanted Nozomi to do, she had just been aiming to win. But it had to be something good to make up for her earlier embarrassment. Eli's eyes landed on the half eaten box of chocolates the two had been sharing.

"You have to eat a caramel chocolate."

"Eh?" Nozomi paled at the statement, and Eli smiled in victory. She slid off the bed to grab one, then held it out for Nozomi to take.

"Come on, they're not that bad."

"You say that…" Nozomi took the chocolate gingerly, staring at it warily as if it was going to attack. She shut her eyes and popped it into her mouth with a grimace. Eli sat down next to her, watching as Nozomi's face contorted in displeasure. It took a few moments before she managed to swallow the chocolate, and she immediately grabbed her glass of water to chase it down.

"That was gross."

"You deserve it."

"How mean. Round 3? We can't leave it as a tie, after all."

Eli didn't mind a tie. It would be better than losing again, and she didn't want to know what Nozomi had in store for her. But Nozomi was looking up at her patiently, a small smile on her lips, and Eli couldn't bring herself to say no.

"Alright. But this is the last round, okay?"

Nozomi's face lit up. "I'll accept that."

They settled into their positions, backs against the wall and blanket tangled between their legs. Eli started with her leavanny, hoping to overpower most of Nozomi's Pokémon with its bug type moves. She was in luck; Nozomi sent out her ludicolo as an opponent. X-scissor brought its health low with two quick strikes, and the dancing Pokémon faded away in defeat. Eli ignored the spark of hope that burned inside her. It was too early to get confident, and she knew well how fast the tide of battle could turn.

Nozomi sent out her spiritomb next. Their two Pokémon traded blows, health dropping steadily. Leavanny triumphed again, its bar safely in the yellow, until gengar appeared to take revenge for its fallen comrades. Eli gritted her teeth. One Pokémon down didn't mean much. Her weavile cried as it jumped into battle, slashing the gengar with its sharp claws. Despite its super effective dark moves, weavile went down a few hits later. The incessant low health beeping from Nozomi's ds was the only consolation.

The battle continued.

One by one their Pokémon fell. A hard hit took Eli's swanna down and she sent out her final Pokémon. Nozomi wasn't faring much better; she finally looked nervous as her quagsire made its last stand. Then it was just glaceon versus jynx, and Eli could only hope that her foxlike Pokémon would be enough. Ice moves wouldn't do much damage, but bite would work well instead. Eli selected the move with confidence. Glaceon had much higher defenses, there was no way she'd lose this.

Seconds later and Eli finally understood why the Pokémon was named jynx.

Perish song would have been bad enough, even if Nozomi's incredible luck hadn't led to glaceon getting paralyzed three times in a row. But unable to do anything more than mutter in frustration, Eli sat back and watched as Nozomi easily defeated glaceon and won the fight. The new champion closed her ds calmly, turned to Eli with a small, expectant grin, and Eli knew she was in trouble.

"The match is over," Nozomi said.

"It is."

"I won."

"You did."

"I suppose I should claim my bet then, hmm?"

"What do you want me to do?"

Nozomi tilted her head up, her grin growing wider as she closed her eyes.

"Kiss me."

Eli let out a breathless laugh. Of course it'd be something like this, this must have been Nozomi's goal from the beginning. Why had she ever worried? She cupped Nozomi's cheek, rubbed a thumb against the smooth skin, and leaned forward.

Nozomi tasted of caramel.


End file.
